“If you don’t have a monthly donor program yet, you’d be wise to make that part of your plan for next calendar year and perhaps even sooner than that.” People often ask me why you should focus on this now? Well, if last year’s Harvey hurricane disaster is any indication: Monthly donors provide sustainable revenue, no matter what happens. Their gifts keep coming in, rain or shine! In essence, it’s an extra insurance policy for your...

“If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. I love this quote because it’s so very true, especially when it comes to sustainers—no matter where you are in your monthly donor program. If you have a small number of them, you always want to be moving toward growing that number: to the next 50, to the next...

A colleague consultant asked me this question last week, and I was discussing this very same thing with another organization myself. Great timing! A nonprofit in the process of launching its monthly donor program has its annual gala coming up this spring. It’s a fancy event—heavy hors d’oeuvres, silent and live auction, including a “fund-a-need” focused on something they need for their program. Donors typically pay $100 to $150 for a...

I hope you’re having a wonderful time this holiday season? I had some time to catch up on some reading, relax and I made my new year’s resolutions. One of those is to never stop learning. That’s why I have amazing news: One of my colleagues has put together a fabulous Fundraising Summit, that’s totally virtual and free. It’d held on January 5-9 and you can attend it simply by clicking here. You’ll see an...

I just came back from an amazing week at the   International Fundraising Congress with amazing inspired, energetic fundraisers from some 60 countries. You may have heard me speak about this conference before. It’s really the top conference in my book! And I’m not just saying that because it’s being held on the other side of the ocean in my native country the Netherlands! (I was able to spend the weekend celebrating my...

This past week I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar for Pamela Grow’s Simple Development System members. I’m very grateful to Pam as she introduced me to webinars a little over a year ago! Since then, I’ve joined the subject matter expert team of Charity How To and I am having a lot of fun teaching organizations how they can get started and grow a monthly giving program with very limited resources. A couple of key pieces...